The VALORANT community is eagerly anticipating the release of agent 18, who we now know as Neon. The lightning-quick new agent is the first Manila-based hero in the game—and she's designed by a Filipino, too. As Neon's trailer, Spark, dropped on Wednesday, fans immediately took notice of the Philippine-inspired elements all over the video, praising the creators' careful attention to detail and genuine attempt to introduce diversity in VALORANT. The agent's voice actress (VA), Vanille Velasquez, also commended Riot on Twitter for the sensitive development of Neon and even dropped hints about her voiceover lines that players are looking forward to hearing in-game.
“Win for Filipino representation”
Fans were abreast with excitement when Riot dropped hints and teasers for Agent 18. At first, it started out with more general clues about the character being a speedy hero. Later on, a dev blog that included Filipino (Tagalog) phrases—and a Filipino word as the file name for the image showing Neon's running shoes—all but confirmed that the new agent would be the first of her kind stationed in Manila.
As a nod to championing diversity and proper representation, Velasquez in her Twitter thread highlighted the huge amount of “care and effort that went into [developing] Neon” and suggested to get the phrase “Salamat Riot” (“Thank you, Riot”) trending as a show of gratitude.
“I have never seen a Filipino character in a video game this carefully created before. Hearing Tagalog on an AAA title is a massive win for Filipino representation,” she shared.
Further expounding on her point, Velazquez emphasized that Neon felt like “an actual Filipino person”—not a caricature or stereotype or mere mascot for the Philippines. “What makes [Neon] ‘Filipino' isn't superficial,” she added.
How Neon was “authentically” designed
Velazquez also pointed out the “relatable little references” as well as the natural sounding accent, which the VA described as something that she “consciously” made an effort to avoid creating a (wrongfully) stereotyped representation of how Filipinos sound. Indeed, the recently released trailer had many elements that resonated with the Filipino community, such as a framed basketball jersey. Moreover, Filipino artist Ylona Garcia produced a song “Entertain Me” for the video as well.
These key details have helped really bring Neon to life, not just as a new agent, but as a Filpino VALORANT hero. Other members of the playerbase around the world have similarly highlighted the authenticity of Neon.
Velazquez also added a little extra tidbit for players to be excited about. According to the Filipino VA, Riot had accorded her “free rein” in improvising a couple of lines for Neon in the native language. Players can look forward to hearing voiceover quotes from Neon in Filipino, but Velazquez kept hush-hush over just what those lines are.
“I take it as a responsibility and I’m so honored they trusted me,” Velazquez said. “I only want the best for Neon, to make all of you proud of her and the work we’ve done.”
“Riot has now opened doors for other local aspiring VAs. This DOES mean a lot. This means everything to the local aspiring VA,” she expressed.
The VALORANT community will soon get to pilot Neon in-game, as the new agent drops on January 11, 2022. The highly mobile Duelist will surely bring an exciting dimension to the fast-paced FPS, from voiceovers in a different language to blink-and-you'll-miss-it shooting while sliding attacks.
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